


Something's not quite right

by imthederpyfox



Category: Yogscast
Genre: Angst, Blackmail, Blood, Dark, Darkness, Fiction, Hallucinations, IRL, Lack of Sleep, Lewis is just trying to protect them, Other, Overworking, Series, Simon is a good best friend, Story, stories, threatened, unknown - Freeform, weird shit happens, yog, yogfic, yogs - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-29 05:10:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11433819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imthederpyfox/pseuds/imthederpyfox
Summary: Something's troubling Lewis, and nobody knows what...





	1. Prologue

Prologue

 

"Right guys, I think it's best we leave it there for now..." Lewis spoke into his microphone.  
"Aww, it feels like we only just started." Paul answered through mumble.  
"Better work bitch." Simon joined in and everyone laughed.  
"Its now officially a thing apparently." Duncan chirped up. "Ah shit!" He exclaimed and a few seconds later a message popped up in chat.  
-Lividcoffee fell out of the world-  
Everyone laughed once again. "Right guys, see you all next time on whale lords! Byeeee~" Lewis closed off, and once everyone said their farewells, they all began to log off of minecraft. 

-Honeydew left the game- 

-Sjin left the game- 

-Sips_ left the game-

-Lividcoffee left the game- 

"Right guys, should we get some food?" Duncan asked.  
"Sure!" Paul answered.  
"I could get some food, meet you guys at the stairwell." Simon finished.  
"You guys go ahead, I'm just gonna finish off some stuff here." Lewis said. Simon raised an eyebrow to himself and made his way down the corridor, attempting to open his friends door. It was locked. He then made his way back to his room and put his headset back on.  
"Lewis why is your door locked?" He asked.  
"Wanting some privacy. What's wrong with that? Look if you guys are hungry go get some food and I'll be down soon, if not then don't wait up." The raven haired man responded.  
Simon wasn't convinced, he logged back onto minecraft. 

-Honeydew joined the game- 

Xephos - I said I wanted some privacy Simon... 

Honeydew - Just come have lunch with us mate

Xephos - no Simon, I have some stff to do. You guys go ahead. 

"Simon are you coming?" Duncan's voice came from the corridor.  
"Yep!" He answered. 

Honeydew - you doing ok mate? 

Xephos - I'm fine simon. Just leave me alone for a while. 

Honeydew - alright...

-Honeydew left the game-

"Ready to go?" Chris asked as Simon walked over. He nodded and they made their way to five guys.  
\------------  
They sat down with their burgers, back in the common room.  
"I'm telling you, something's not quiet right with him at the moment." Simon said.  
"He's right, Lewis has been locking himself in his room, taking over random recording slots that belong to other people..." Duncan chimed in.  
"So he's being Lewis?" Chris said, smirking. Paul chuckled.  
"He's just been really distant, we don't really know what's up with him." Duncan continued, ignoring the other two. They were gonna joke around regardless of the situation.  
"Its getting to the point where we can't really leave him to it anymore..." Simon said.  
\------------  
Xephos - were alone. 

Dark - good. Just like we agreed. 

Xephos - what do you want exactly, what do you get from this situation?

Dark - I know you've noticed my people. I've clearly got you scared.

Xephos - do what you want to me. Just don't harm my friends. I don't know how you'd be able to do that but you've made it pretty obvious you can get to me. 

Dark - I know how much you care for your friends. You wouldn't want to hurt them by being a sarcastic bastard would you? 

Xephos - you can't do that. Hurt me not them. 

-Lividcoffee joined the game- 

Lividcoffee - what's going on Lewis? 

Xephos - nothing. 

Lividcoffee - what u doing? Where are you? You're not on the whale? 

Xephos - duncan. leave me lone. 

Lividcoffee - but why? 

{Dark (whispers) - better get going Lewis. Times ticking down, your friends are getting suspicious}

Xephos - duncan just go away.

Lividcoffee - when are you gonna come out of your room...? Were worried about you man.

Xephos - just go! For gods sake! 

-honeydew joined the game- 

Honeydew - you guys ok?

Lividcoffee - Lewis is being weird again.

Honeydew - lewis buddy what's going on?  
Xephos - nothing! Just leave me alone! God...

-Rythian joined the game- 

Rythian - hey guys

Honeydew - hey Rythian

Lividcoffee - Rythian! Will you please tell him that his moaping around and general depressed attitude won't solve anything?

Rythian - who's depressed? Simon? 

Honeydew - no, lewis.

Xephos - I'm not friggin depressd! 

-Sjin joined the game-

-Sips_ joined the game- 

Sips_ - hey benders. 

Sjin - what's going on? Is lewis still being depressed?

Xephos - I don't have time for this guys... Just leave me alone... 

Honeydew - were all worried about you... Please just come out of your room. 

Xephos - if you leave me alone for like five fucking minutes I will! 

There was a moments silence. Lewis was getting angry. 

Lividcoffee - just tell us what's wrong! 

Xephos - for god sake! 

Rythian - yeah were here for you! You can trst us.

Xephos - just piss off... 

-Xephos left the game-

Honeydew - ...shit...

Everyone decided to leave their computers and go back to the common room.  
"Is he still in there?" Simon asked as he walked to the door.  
"Yep." Chris answered, sipping a drink.  
"For god sake..." Simon groaned and walked down the corridor to Lewis' room. He rapped on the door. No answer. "Lewis." He said firmly.  
"Leave me alone, Simon!" The raven haired mans voice came back.  
"Just come out! You've been locking yourself in there! We just want to make sure you're ok!"  
"You can make sure I'm ok by leaving me the fuck alone!" There was a loud thump on the door. And then silence.  
Simon stared at the door for a moment before sighing and walking back to the common room.  
\------------  
"Night Simon." Paul said, waving and then walking out.  
"Night Sjin." He answered, yawning and standing up. He stretched and then made his way to the door. He looked back, turning the light off and noticing that there was still one light left. It was coming from Lewis' room. It must be from his lamp... Simon shook his head and left the building.  
He would leave his friend to his own devices for now.  
Lewis saw the light outside his room flick off, meaning that everyone had left the offices. He sighed and stood, pulling his jacket on and then wrapping his scarf round his neck, grabbing his phone and walking to the common room. He grabbed a bottle of gin and didn't bother to get a glass. He downed some of it, before putting the bottle down and then walking to the door, locking up, and then heading home.  
On the way back the alcohol began to set in, he could feel the lightness in this head. It was fairly soothing.  
He sighed and put his hands in his pockets, making his way towards his flat. His journey began to slow as the alcohol settled itself down in his head. He sighed again, and stumbled up the driveway to his flat. At the last moment he looked back over his shoulder, seeing a black shadow standing perched on the corner of the street he had just come through. He quickly went inside, closing the door behind him.


	2. Part One

Part one

"I mean he hardly spoke in the last recording of whale lords- thank you." Simon said as he and Mark got their drinks from the till. "And almost everyone even asked if he was ok. He doesn't usually let anything effect a recording." They walked to the door and out into the street. "We're just all worried about him."   
"Well I can see where you're coming from, he hasn't asked me to do a lot recently. I mean he hardly ever leaves his room when everyone else is around." Mark answered, sipping his drink.   
"He won't even let me talk to him anymore unless its through a recording, and he knows I can't ask him what's wrong in front of the audience." Simon said.   
They continued their conversation, making their way towards Yogtowers. Not noticing the black figure that loomed in the alleyway next to the coffee shop, watching them.   
\------------  
His door was locked again. Paul noticed as he walked past his bosses door. He shook his head slightly and went into his room, he didn't feel like getting shouted at again. 

Xephos - send it me then.

Dark - don't get bossy. Or I might just have to attack some of your friends.

Xephos - don't. I'm doing what you tell me here. Just send me the file. 

Dark - its already downloading. 

Lewis blinked at the words, and then alt tab-bed out of his minecraft screen. On his desktop was a folder, where different files were being downloaded into. He went back to minecraft. 

Xephos - I won't ask how you're doing that... 

Dark - no. You shouldn't. You let me worry about that sort of stuff. Don't worry, there's no viruses. 

Xephos - what a relief. 

Dark - are we getting sarcastic again? 

-honeydew joined the game- 

Xephos - no.

Honeydew - lewis? Who you talking to? 

Xephos - no one. 

-Sjin joined the game-

Sjin - hey guys, what's going on? 

Honeydew - getting ready to record the next session

{Dark (whispers) - don't forget the files Lewis. I'll speak to you later.}

Xephos - should we get going then.

Honeydew - Duncan and sips aren't here yet man

-Sips_ joined the game-

Sips_ - what's up motherfuckers

Sjin - speak of the devil

Xephos - so were just waiting on Duncan then

Honeydew - pretty much...

There was a moments silence. 

Honeydew - so you feeling any better lewis? 

Xephos - I'm fine Simon. Can you just stop asking me that. 

Honeydew - just checking... 

The silence returned. At this point Paul got on his phone and text Duncan to hurry up. 

Sjin - I've just text him, maybe we should get onto mumble? 

Simon - good idea

They all went onto mumble, and said their hellos. Everyone except Lewis.   
"Lewis?" Simon asked, no response. He checked the mumble server.   
"Yeah he's not online simon." Sjin said.   
He was right, Simon checked the server list and saw that lewis was still not online. 

Honeydew - lewis? You coming onto mumble? 

Xephos - I will.

Sips_ - when? 

Xephos - when I want to sips.

Sjin - don't get so defensive lewis, he was just asking

"What's his problem?" Paul asked over mumble. Everyone began to moan and sigh.  
"Just ignore him..." Simon said. 

Xephos - don't start this all again. We need to record and if you all piss me off then that's not gonna happen. 

Honeydew - woah... Lewis chill. We're only havng a laugh, just come onto mumble. 

Simon watched the server list and the little red circle that was next to Lewis' name. It turned green, he was online. He didn't say anything, but he was definitely online.   
"Lewis?" Simon asked.   
A static noise came through the speakers on his headphones and he suddenly heard a shout.   
\------------  
"Ah!" Lewis said, jumping up from his seat and throwing his headphones onto the desk. They had made a screeching noise in his ears. "Fuck..."   
He heard a knock on his door. "Lewis? You ok buddy?" Simons voice came.   
"Yeah... I'm fine." Lewis answered.   
"What happened?"   
"Headphones are faulty. I have some others. Just leave me to it." Lewis said.   
Simon sighed and went back to his room.   
"What happened?" Paul asked.   
"Something to do with his headphones, he's getting some others. Is Duncan here yet?" Simon responded.   
"Not yet." Chris answered. 

-Angor joined the game-

Honeydew - tom? What are you doing online?

Angor - lewis just came upstairs to get some headphones and was acting pretty weird.

Sjin - how so? 

Angor - is he still online? 

Sips_ - yeah, he'll c this.

Angor - well, basically he came upstairs and walkd straight past everyone without saying anything

Angor - and then he got annoyd when some of the headphones were tangled together, and then he slammed them down once he'd gotten a pair. 

Honeydew - we don't know what's up with him at the moment...

Sips_ - I think we should just put a bunch of random crap in the chat so that he can't see we were talking about him?

Sjin - oh yeah gd idea sips

They typed random stuff into the chat, making it look like a normal conversation, and then Lewis was back on mumble.   
"Lewis?" Simon asked.  
"Is Duncan here yet?" The raven haired mans voice came back.   
"Not yet mate." Simon answered. 

{Dark (whispers) - lewis~}

He ignored him because of everyone else.   
{Dark (whispers) - Lllllewis~ don't ignore me. You really don't want to ignore me.}

He didn't exactly have a choice at this point.   
Then he heard it, a sigh, through his headphones. And it wasn't one of his friends. He figured the others hadn't heard it, as they got on with their conversation. 

{Dark (whispers) - xephossss~}

Lewis was getting frustrated. He couldn't answer in front of his friends. 

{Dark (whispers) - lewis.}

Xephos - WHAT?!

There was a moment where everything went quiet.   
"Lewis? Who you talking to?" Simon asked, worried that he'd seen the conversation from before or something.   
"Wrong tab..." Lewis mumbled.   
"Alright..." Simon answered, not fully convinced. 

{Dark (whispers) - temper temper. Check your files~} 

Lewis raised an eyebrow and opened the folder of files he'd been sent. Most of the files were locked for some reason, but one wasn't. He sighed and opened it, looking at the picture once it had loaded. It was in minecraft chat... With Angor? He read through what his friends were talking about. Him.   
He sighed and closed the picture. Going back onto minecraft.   
"Is Duncan here." He demanded.   
"Yeah he's setting up now." Paul answered.   
"Tell him to hurry up." Lewis said, moving Xephos around in minecraft.   
"A-alright..." Paul said, and Lewis heard him get up and walk past his own door towards Duncan's.   
Lewis looked back in the folder to see that all the files were locked. He raised an eyebrow and closed the folder again. He looked at his screen, it was pure black. He was on the minecraft tab, but it was pure black. He leant forward, noticing a tiny white light in the middle of the screen. He noticed it getting closer, and pulled a confused look to no one in particular. He took off his headphones and continued to look at this dot as it got bigger and turned into two dots.   
As he finally realised that it was two eyes, he had to jump back. The blackness bounced from his screen, rising up and then sinking back into the screen, turning to an 8-bit style, a small speech bubble popping up saying 'ha ha' and the sound of 8-bit deep laughing came from the headphones on his desk.   
He gave himself a moment to breathe before his screen turned back to minecraft and he noticed that Xephos had died. From falling?   
"Did... Did someone push me off?" He asked.   
"Mate what happened?! We were just stood here letting Duncan get ready and then suddenly your character started freaking out and flailing and punching around and then you sorta... I don't know you kinda turned like blue and black colours like when you edit a picture to be like opposite or something... And then you were like thrown back off the side of the whale!" Simons voice came, along with a few mutters from the others.   
"Yeah what happened silk shirt, It was totally freaky!" Chris' voice came through.   
"I don't know I was tabbed out. Probably a glitch..." Lewis said, looking back into the folder to see a note that was unlocked.   
He opened it. 

'Don't worry, I won't get you that easy. Just wanted to strike a little fear through you. 

Your next task is simple, unlock the rest of this folder and go through the files.

And Lewis. Don't try and get help, if you do that person will be hurt. 

Kind regards~ 

Dark.'

"Nothing to worry about..." He finished off. "Everything's fine..."   
"Right so are we ready to record?" Duncan's voice came through.   
"Yep!" Everyone said back. And Lewis still stared at the note, before it disappeared from his screen, and left him staring at his minecraft character. But instead of the blocky pixel face looking at him, it was a realistic face, like Xephos had come to life.   
He blinked, and the image turned into his reflection. Like he was Xephos.   
And then, after another blink, everything was back to normal. And everyone was getting on with the recording session...


	3. Part Two

Part two

-Honeydew joined the game- 

"I wonder who's online..." Simon asked himself, he checked his watch, it was quarter past 2 in the morning. Nobody should be on... But as he checked the server list of members, he noticed the little green light next to Xephos' name.   
He turned on mumble, in case his friend was online by some chance. And he was. "Lewis?" He asked.   
"Ah! Oh... Simon... Hi." Lewis answered. His friend had startled him.   
"You're up late." Simon said. Lewis sounded tired. Worn down.   
"Yeah... Couldn't sleep."   
There was a silence.   
"Yourself?" Lewis asked.   
"Yeah same mate..."   
Another silence.   
"Well... While were here, how about we get some behind the scene stuff done?" Simon ventured.   
"Can't... Sorry, busy with editing, only logged on for a couple of minutes..." Lewis answered, he didn't sound convincing.   
"Oh... Well surely you could use a break?"   
"I'm fine Simon, I'll speak later..." The raven haired man answered.  
"Ok-"  
Lewis left the mumble group.   
"Bye..." Simon said to himself. He was worried about his friend. He sighed, going to move his character, and saw that Lewis was still typing in chat.

Xephos - /unlockfile2_b97

"2 b 9...?" Simon mumbled to himself. 

Honeydew - lewis? 

Xephos - yes? 

Honeydew - what u doing? 

Xephos - working on some server stuff. Nothing to worry about. 

Honeydew - alright... I'll see you tomorrow yeah?

Xephos - yh. Bye. 

Simon shook his head and continued on his business around minecraft. Every so often there was a message from Lewis in the chat, to no one but himself. Maybe he was jotting down file names for later? So he could remember them? Simon didn't know, he decided to ignore them for now. His friends strange behavior was worrying but it was probably for the best not to push him. He had gotten angry last time.   
Finally once both of them had logged off, the ginger bearded man went to bed, pulling out his phone and messaging Duncan, Paul and Turps. 

Simon - 'Does anyone know the server stuff for minecraft that involves files?' 

Paul - 'you mean like mod packs and texture packs?'

Turps - 'you're gonna have to be more specific Simon'

Simon - 'ok is there a server command called '/unlockfile2_b97'?'

There was a moment where there were no answers. 

Duncan - 'well I have no clue what you're talking about...' 

Simon - 'do any of you?'

Turps - 'after doing set ups for the servers I have to tell you that doesn't sound like a command that would be available.'

Paul - 'I know for sure that isn't in the game...' 

Duncan - 'why do you ask?'

Simon - 'Lewis stuff again.'

Paul - 'so you spoke to him?' 

Simon - 'not for very long, I don't think its anything to worry about, but he is up pretty late.' 

Duncan - 'yeah why is everyone up so late?' 

Simon - 'couldn't sleep'

Paul - 'same, kept getting the feeling someone was watching me or something...' 

Turps - 'same...'

Duncan - 'I'm sure its fine. Anyway, see you guys tomorrow.' 

Everyone said their farewells and they all laid down to sleep. Strange... Everyone else felt the same way Simon did. He ignored it and closed his eyes.   
\------------

Xephos - /readfile297b 

Com's - access granted

"Finally..." Lewis sighed and clicked on the file to open it. 

'Planet - Earth  
70% water, 30% earth.   
Molten core.   
Light cycle of the sun, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 12 months a year.   
525,600 minutes a year.   
60 seconds in a minute.   
Time on calendar scale, based around Mayan calendar.   
7.4 billion people.   
196 countries.  
50 states.  
68 cities in united kingdom. 

Subjects -   
Link to Tektopia, Minecraftia, Hexington, and Voltia.  
Including various others.   
Link to worlds.   
Electronic links.

End written log.'

Lewis raised an eyebrow. "What the...?" He asked himself, before closing the document and naming it something easier to remember.   
'Written log - 1'  
"Ok... One down..." He sighed and continued through different commands on different games and different websites, seeing what would work. 

Xephos - /openfile739

Com's - access granted

"OK... Next one..." Lewis said to himself and opened the now unlocked file. 

Com's - play subtitles with dialogue file? y/n

Xephos - y

'Day 001 -   
My name's... Well my names not that important. They've just told me I should keep a dialogue while I'm here... And they've given me a recorder to say things into... I don't really get the point to be honest... *sighs*...' 

There was a silence in the recording and Lewis turned the volume in his headphones up so he could pay attention.   
'So its my first day, I don't know what I'm doing really... I'm not exactly the most experienced personnel that's here. They bought a few upperclassmen along, because we did so well in our combat tests and written reports... I really didn't think I'd do well but there you go. Um... So today the doctors gonna show me around the facility? Apparently its some form of prison, where mad people are kept. Like you know really fucking insane people.' 

Lewis raised an eyebrow and scoffed. 

'So they took us away from our home planet and sent us here... Everyone else has training for this, I mean... Everyone but me and a couple of other people. There's me, RaYlo, and Barx. And that's it, so were each supposed to be on different levels and stuff? Work with the doctor and the more... Safer patients... I don't know. Either way the doctors gonna be here in a couple of hours so I guess I need to try and sleep. This place seems a little too clean for my liking... Oh well, I'm sure I'll settle in soon. *sighs*... End of log.' 

Com's - end of file. Play next dialogue? y/n

Xephos - y

Com's - error, file encrypted. Please unlock. Continue? y/n

Xephos - n

-Xephos left the game-

Lewis sat for a moment in silence before closing his laptop and putting it to one side. He furrowed his brows before shaking his head slightly, that was... Strange to say the least. He sighed and figured he'd try more tomorrow, after all, at this point it was 5am. And he would have to be at work early tomorrow, like usual. He sighed and lay down, turning off his lamp and curling up to sleep. He opened his eyes and looked to the window, spotting the dark shadow that stood outside near the end of his garden. He sighed and turned over, pulling his covers further up like a child.   
"Go away..." He murmured, letting sleep overtake him.   
\------------  
Mark got up, stretching and switching his alarm clock off. He sighed, running his hand through his hair and looking to his wife. He smiled and kissed her on the cheek, slowly and quietly getting up so that he didn't wake her.   
He had a shower, did his hair, and then grabbed some clothes. After getting changed he checked his phone.   
2 new messages

Simon - sorry about last night, hope I didn't keep you up too late

Paul (group message) - I logged onto minecraft last night and saw Lewis typing a bunch of random stuff into the chat? He was the only one online as well. And there was some bot or something called 'com's'? I don't really know. We'll talk about it later. 

Mark sighed and grabbed a coffee, putting it into his flask and leaving for Yogtowers. On the way he stopped off in the coffee shop and ordered a tea to go. Before getting a bagel and heading to work, he walked up the stairs, yawning as he went, and spotted the raven haired man down the corridor, heading into the common room. He hadn't locked himself in his room yet. Mark celebrated in his head and made his way to the kitchen, making the bagel and stirring the tea. He then put the bagel on a plate and sighed, looking at what he'd made. He picked it up and made his way into the common room, looking around and spotting Lewis sat at the table that was to one side, asleep with his head down on the desk.   
Mark chuckled and carefully placed the plate down on the table along with his boss' drink. The raven haired man suddenly awoke, sleepily looking up and wiping his eyes.   
"Well, you look like shit." Mark said, sitting down and smirking.   
"I know..." Lewis answered.   
"You're here early? Even for you." Mark pushed the plate closer to his boss, who looked down at the bagel and tea. He grabbed the cup of tea and sipped at it. Letting the warmth fill him.   
"Couldn't sleep at home..." Lewis answered, sipping more tea and thinking of the shadow he had seen. They were getting closer...   
"Well, here's your breakfast because I know you've been skipping out, and your tea. And if you want me to get you some lunch later just let me know. Though I think we're going to five guys for lunch today."   
Lewis stood. "No thanks..." He walked to the door, carrying the tea with him.   
"Lewis..." Mark said, quickly turning to him. The raven haired man stopped and looked back at Mark. "We're all worried about you..." He said, sincerely, honestly.   
There was a moments silence, and Lewis looked down at his drink before looking back up, sympathetically.   
"I just..." Lewis said, not sure what to say to make sure his friends knew he wasn't doing what he was doing to worry them... He was doing it to protect them.  
Mark stood and walked over "you can tell me what's going on you know..."   
"Its fine..." Lewis said, almost too quietly. Worried about what would happen if he did tell someone. His voice broke slightly and he looked down.   
"Lewis...?" Mark asked again. His voice was kind.   
"I... I don't know what to do..." Lewis said, his voice cracking and tears welling in his eyes. Mark looked shocked.   
"Its alright, what's going on? What's upsetting you so much? Why don't you know what to do...?" He asked.   
Lewis looked up at his suddenly and sniffed. Shaking himself back to putting up a wall to keep Mark and everyone else out. Lest they get hurt.   
"Nothing. Its fine. I have some work to do..." Lewis said, turning and walking out, walking to his room and locking himself in his room. He sighed, his voice quivering as he rested his back against the door to his office, looking at the dark room. He put his hand to the light switch, his back still to the door, but didn't flick it. He felt the tears welling and couldn't stop them. And he slid down the door, curling up and letting the tears silently fall.


	4. Part Three

Part three

Lewis awoke, looking up he was sat at the common room table, a bottle of gin in front of him. It was dark outside. He groaned, rubbing his eyes and pulling out his phone.

'9:47'

He sighed and rubbed his eyes again, standing up and swaying slightly. Paul was walking past in the corridor, and noticed him struggling to stand.   
"Hey Lewis?" He said, walking in. "You're here late?" He checked his watch.   
"I had... Work to do..." His boss mumbled, his head swaying. How much had he drunk?   
The beany clad man looked to the table, seeing the half empty bottle of gin. Now his bosses stupor made sense. He quickly had to help hold the raven haired man up as his legs threatened to turn to jelly. "Woah... Lewis? Come on let's get you sat down..." He said.   
"No... I... I need to go to my room..." Lewis muttered.   
"Lewis you need some rest" Paul said, helping him sit down on the sofa.   
"But I..." He thought to the files he had to look through and try and unlock... "I have work to do..." He tried to stand up again.   
"No Lewis, you're drunk ok, just relax. Me and Duncan still have some recording to do so... If you want to sit in there with us so we can keep an eye on you?"   
The raven haired man looked up at his friend, well the multiple versions of his friend that he could see through his drunken eyes. "Yeah... Yeah good idea... Could you... Could you help me? Please?" He responded. He wouldn't be able to pay attention to the files at this point anyway...   
The beany clad man nodded and helped his boss into the live stream room, setting him down in one of the chairs next to Duncan. The blonde man looked over to his boss. "You alright Lewis?" He asked. Getting a slight nod from him. "We still recording?" He asked Paul.  
"Yeah yeah, just said its probably better for Lewis to sit in here with us and relax a bit." Paul answered, before walking back to the door. "I'm gonna get you some water ok Lewis?"   
The raven haired man looked up slightly, his vision lagging. "Y-yeah... Thanks Sjin..."   
Paul nodded and walked out, followed by Duncan. "Has he been drinking?" The blonde asked as they made their way to the kitchen. Paul pointed at the common room.   
"Went in there and found him almost passing out with a bottle of gin." Paul answered. Duncan raised his eyebrows.   
"Seriously? Do you think he'll be ok?" The blonde asked.   
"We just need to make sure he sobers up a bit before he heads home." Paul answered. "I still want to know what's going on with him at the moment... I'm getting really worried..." He poured the man a glass of water and then took it to him. He thanked them and the two men sat back down to record.   
Half way through their boss got up and left the room, stumbling into the wall outside.   
"Where do you think he's going?" Paul whispered.   
"Probably the throw up..." Duncan answered.   
They were right, the raven haired man made his way to the bathroom, dropping to his knees next to the toilet and throwing up into it. It burnt his throat. "Fuck..." He mumbled to himself, retching again and vomiting some more.   
After a few minutes of trying to stand back up without feeling sick, he finally managed to stumble back to the room, almost tripping as he made his way over to the chair and flopped down into it, putting his head into his hands.   
"You ok Lewis?" Paul asked.   
He shook his head. He wasn't ok.   
"I think we should leave it there for today Sjin, we gotta sort some... Stuff out." The blonde looked to his boss, who was flopping in his chair and almost falling off of it. "So we'll see you guys soon!"   
"Bye!" Paul said.   
They shut off the recording. "Ok so I'm gonna get my stuff from my room, so I'll be back soon." Duncan said.   
"Same." Paul answered and the two left the room. "We'll be back soon Lewis."   
The raven haired man gave a slight nod and they walked out. He felt his stomach begin to unravel again and made his way back to the toilet. He drooped down, falling against the toilet stall wall and throwing up. He flopped forward, knocking his chin on the bowl.   
The blonde walked in, slotting the open stall and his boss sat there. He made his way over. "Lewis? You ok?" He asked, kneeling next to him.   
He retched again, nothing coming up anymore. He looked up at the blonde, who had a look of worry plastered over his face.   
"No..." He managed to speak, he did not feel good.   
Duncan sighed and rubbed his bosses back. "Its alright Lewis..." He said, watching as his friend was on the verge of passing out. "Come on, you wanna get some food?" He asked.   
Lewis nodded slightly.   
"I'm gonna get you a glass of water." The blonde said, standing and walking out and into the kitchen. Lewis stood, stumbling over to the sink. He turned the tap on, splashing cold water onto his face and rubbing his eyes. It helped him feel a little better. He looked at himself in the mirror, and stepped back slightly, slipping on the floor and landing painfully.   
Duncan came back in with the glass of water and helped him up. "You ok?" He asked, resting him against the sinks.   
"Yeah... Yeah..." Lewis answered, looking back round to the mirrors. It was his normal reflection now, as apposed to Xephos. He rubbed his eyes. "God I feel like I'm going crazy..." He took the drink and drank some spitting into the sink and accepting a chewing gum from his blonde friend.   
"Ready to go?" Paul asked, walking in.   
"Yeah." Duncan answered. "Come on Lewis. Let's get you something to eat."   
"I don't have any money..." Lewis answered, slurring his words.   
"Its ok we can pay for it... We just need to sort you out." Duncan said, helping him out and down the stairs and to the closest fast food place. McDonalds.   
They sat down with their food, eating their burgers and fries. Lewis only nibbled on a couple of fries.   
In their time there, the raven haired man had rushed to the toilet twice. The second time he came back he flopped down at the table, slamming his head against it and groaning.   
"Fucking hell Lewis... You look like shit." Duncan said. "I think its time to get you home."   
"I can do it..." Lewis mumbled, standing up and stumbling to the door. The other two looked to each other, quickly ate their food, and rushed out. Following their boss. They quickly caught up with him.   
"Lewis let us call you a taxi?" Paul asked, pulling out his phone.   
"No... I'm walking..." He answered. "So either go and enjoy the rest of your night or... I don't know." He slurred his words and began stumbling down the street again. The other two followed behind, keeping their distance but being ready for their boss to drop over. He didn't thankfully, and just as he got to the corner of the alleyway, leading down a shortcut to his and Duncan's flats, Duncan got a phone call. "Hell be fine for a minute... Wait a second... He can walk through the ally." Duncan told Paul, opening his phone. "Hello? Hey... Yeah I'll be back soon... Yeah I just gotta help Lewis out... Yeah he's drunk again... Yeah... Yeah I know... Yeah I'll lock the door when I get in..." He spoke. Paul was looking between him and where Lewis had gone frantically.   
"Dunc I think we should go..." Paul muttered, seeing that Lewis had stumbled round the corner and out of sight.   
The raven haired man walked round the corner, stumbling down the alley. Once he turned the corner at the end something gripped his neck, pinning him to the wall. Black shadows surrounded him, laughing, jeering, bright white eyes evil. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore them, and felt himself drop to the floor, and heard his friends coming over.   
"Lewis?" Duncan asked, he spotted his friend sat on the ground, flopped against the wall. Paul helped the blonde to get their friend up and they took him to his house. "Did you trip?" Duncan asked.   
"N...yes." The raven haired man said, stopping himself from mentioning the black shadows that had been following him recently... "I tripped... Somehow... I don't know..."   
"Let's get him to bed." Duncan said. They took him through his place, taking him to the bedroom and laying him down on the bed. Taking off his shirt which had vomit and sweat down it, and putting it in his laundry. They decided it be best to leave his trousers on and put him under the covers. He was asleep by this point. They left him alone, leaving the house.   
"You wanna just stay over at mine tonight? Instead of getting a taxi?" Duncan asked.   
"Sure, if that's cool."   
"If you're ok with sleeping on the sofa." Duncan laughed. They walked towards Duncan's place. "I wonder if Lewis will be ok?" Paul asked.   
"I'm sure he'll be fine..."   
"Not just from being drunk though, I mean recently... He's been... Strange. I just... Something's just not quite right with him."  
"I agree... Let's see how it goes over the next few days." Duncan added.  
\------------  
Lewis shook his head slightly, and looked up, the room was filled with shadows, he jumped, immediately closed his eyes, hoping to ignore them. But when he opened they weren't there... Was he imagining it? In his drunken state?   
He stood and walked over to the window, seeing that the one shadow that had been there the night before had made its way slightly down the garden... He was right. Either 'dark' was trying scare him again, or he was just imagining it after the lack of sleep. He sighed and laid back down, going back to sleep.

And on his open laptop next to his bed, a message popped up on his minecraft screen. 

Dark - Wakey wakey Lewis...


	5. Part Four

Part 4

Honeydew - so is everyone ready? 

Sjin - should we get onto mumble? 

Sips_ - good plan sjinny boy.

They turned on mumble and greeted each other. "Ok so is everyone here?" Simon asked.  
"Everyone except Lewis..." Duncan answered. "Its weird he's usually the first one here. Especially recently." He added, though remembered the state he had been in the night before.  
"Should we try and contact him?" Paul suggested.  
"Well we can't exactly start until he gets here..." Chris answered.  
"Hang on I just heard someone come in to the office, I'll check if its him." Simon said, taking off his headphones and walking from his room. He spotted the raven haired man walk into his own room, he appeared to stumble slightly. Well, Duncan and Paul had spoken of his drunken state the night before. He'd have to ask if his best friend was ok later. They had some recording to do. "He's here, should be on soon." 

-Xephos joined the game-

Honeydew - were on mumbl whn you're ready friend

Xephos - alright.

The little green icon next to Lewis' name went green and they greeted him.  
"Hi..." He answered. He did not sound good.  
"You ok mate?" Simon asked.  
"Yeah... Let's start..." Was the response. Simon sighed and they began recording, once again the raven haired man didn't speak for most of the time, just let everyone else get on with everything. In the middle of the session his minecraft character began to take damage. He turned the character around, not seeing anything attacking him, and then looked to his food bar. It was empty.  
"You ok there friend?" Simon asked, chucking a little.  
And that's when he felt it, a twinging pain, spiking every few seconds, crippling his stomach. He was starving. He curled up on himself slightly. "Y-yeah... Just starving." He answered, forcing out a chuckle.  
"Here mate have some food." Simon answered, his dwarf throwing some bread onto the floor. Lewis made his character pick it up and then ate some. He fought back the urge to groan in pain as his own stomach seemed to be getting ripped apart by pain, and then once Xephos' food bar was full the pain subsided. He panted slightly and sat back in his chair, running his hands through his hair and rubbing his eyes. "Jesus Christ..." He whispered to himself. His vision wasn't doing too good, but he carried himself through until they said their farewells to the audience about an hour later. He sighed and watched everyone log off of minecraft.  
He himself had to stay on, he had to unlock more files today. He had to. There was a knock on his door and he looked to it, seeing Simon poke his head round. "Hey mate, were gonna be watching a film soon in the common room if you wanna join? Have a bit of a chill day?" He asked, pushing his glasses up slightly.  
"No Simon... I have work to do." Lewis answered, looking away.  
"You really don't look good mate..." Simon stepped in the door a little further. It was true, the raven haired man had looked in the mirror that morning and had been greeted by even paler skin, tired eyes with big black bags underneath, messy, scruffy hair... But he had work to do so had to come in. It was important if he wanted to stop them from hurting his friends.  
"Yeah, I'm fine..." He said.  
"Look, if you need a break just come to the common room and do the work after." Simon suggested. "Might help you out a bit..."  
He heard a voice in his headphones. 'Better not Lewis... Who knows what could happen to your friends while you rest? Better keep working...'  
"Come on Lewis, let's go watch a fil-"  
"I said I'm fine Simon." He snapped. He didn't mean to... He really hadn't. But his friend shook his head slightly and just walked out, closing the door behind him. Lewis sighed and put his hands to his head. "Idiot..." He mumbled to himself before sitting back up and beginning to go through the files that were still locked. 

Xephos - /unlockfile395

Coms - access granted

"Ok good..." Lewis mumbled to himself after an hour of looking through files. 

Com's - play subtitles with audio file? y/n

Xephos - y

'Day 003 -  
So I'm back... Didn't have the time to record a dialogue yesterday... We were getting shown around the facility. Its strange, all the prisoners are all rowdy, loud... Obnoxious. Insane. But there's a man on my level that's different.' 

Lewis raised an eyebrow. Someone not insane in a lunatic asylum? Doesn't sound quite right... He shrugged and let the voice continue. 

'So we went to get some food, it wasn't too bad. The 'newbs' as they like to call us. It was strange, the food was... Strange. Everything about this place is strange I suppose.' 

Lewis sighed. The repetition was somewhat agitating. 

'So I went back to my room via the floor I'm maintaining, and I noticed this one patient... The one who... Doesn't seem like the others. He was just sat in the middle of the room, his legs crossed. And he was just looking straight at me... It was...'

"Strange?" Lewis mumbled. 

'Surreal... He doesn't seem like he belongs here. He seems smart. Intellectual, sophisticated... He reminds me of me. I mean looks wise, not personality or smarts... I don't know, anyway, I'll record when I next can. It seems that recording these is actually quite useful... Makes me feel less alone in this place.' 

Com's - end of entry, play next tape? y/n

Xephos - n

"Its locked anyway..." Lewis mumbled to himself. He ran his hand across his face, his head hurt. "Why is this taking so long...?" He whispered, before looking back up at his screen. The reflection was different, and as he looked closer he didn't see his room behind him, he saw... The whale? It was moving, the houses him and Chris has made on the back of it... And then he looked to himself. Xephos, again. Not himself. He closed his eyes and rubbed them. "Just stop it..." He mumbled. "Stop... You had your fun last night..." He turned back to look at his room, the whale. He stood from his chair, stumbling and falling to one side. "Stop it!" He demanded. Glad that the others wouldn't be able to hear him. He looked out over the sky around him, vertigo setting in. He clenched his eyes shut and curled up to the ground. "Please... Please... Please..." He whispered to himself. And when he looked up, on the verge of tears, he was curled up on his office floor. He sniffled and slowly stood, shaking. He went back to his seat and sat down, looking at his screen. 

Dark - was that unfair of me, I apologise. I was too harsh after what I did last night.

Lewis stared at the screen, gulping slightly. 'Asshole' he thought. 

Dark - no need for thoughts like that Lewis. Now, get to work... We'll talk later. 

Xephos - fine. 

Lewis sighed and rubbed his eyes, resting his head in his hand on the desk. He got back to work trying to unlock the files.  
\------------  
Later that night he unlocked his door, stepping out. He didn't feel good, his vision was blurring. His feet stumbled down the corridor. He corrected himself, forcing himself to walk straight and seem stable. And he walked into the common room, deciding it would probably be better to have a little alcohol to clear his mind and probably sleep on the sofa for the night instead of trying to make it home.  
As he walked in, he noticed Simon sat at the table.  
"Simon..." He mumbled.  
"Hey. What you still doing here?" Simon asked. He stood. "You look like shit Lewis..."  
The raven haired man looked to one side as he leant his hand on the table, keeping himself stable.  
"Lewis..." Simon said. He looked to him for a couple of seconds, attempting to stand as steady ad he could.  
But he couldn't, his legs gave way and he fell into the desk, trying to keep himself up. Simon at this point grabbed him, attempting to atop him from injuring himself. "Here friend, come and sit down..." He said as calmly as he could, though inside he was scared. Worried for his best friend. Lewis wanted to argue but simple complied as his friend lead him to the sofa.  
He held onto his ribs, the pain hadn't seized since the night before. "What's wrong? You in pain?" Simon asked, seeing Lewis sat there holding himself. "Here, let me take a look... Can't look after yourself since Hannah left huh?" He pulled the mans hand away from his ribs and went for his shirt. He couldn't check it while he still wore it. Lewis attempted to bat his hand away. He didn't exactly enjoy being shirtless. "Lewis I'm trying to help... Let me help you." Simon said, and lifted his shirt up. Lewis groaned in pain as his friend did so. "Holy shit Lewis... How did you do this?" He asked, looking down at the bruised side of his friends body. The entire right side of him was black and blue, mainly around the ribs.  
"Fell..." Lewis mumbled, resting his head against the sofa. He didn't have the energy to do anything. "I'm fine..." He added.  
"No, we need to clean this... Somehow." Simon said. "What about some painkillers? They should help."  
"No... No medicine... Nothing... I'm fine..." Lewis answered, picking up his shirt and trying to make it seem like it didn't hurt to pull it back on.  
"You're far from fine Lewis. Do you want me to take you home or?" Simon said.  
"N-no... I'll stay here... Its fine..." Lewis said, sounding like he was on the verge of passing out.  
"Ok, then I'll stay with you. Can't leave you alone in this state."  
He had to be alone to check the files... "No I'm ok, really Simon... You can go home and rest, its easier for me to stay here so..." He said, sitting forward slightly.  
"Lewis I am not leaving you alone while you're in this way."  
"Yes you are. That's an order. From your boss. Now go home and get some rest..." He managed to force himself to stand. "I'll be fine." He walked from the common room, stumbling the entire way, finding it increasingly difficult to walk. And he made it to his room. As he was about to open it he was enveloped in a hug. He was shocked.  
"Take care Lewis..." Simon said, before letting go and walking down the corridor to the exit. The raven haired man turned and watched as he walked out.  
"I'm trying..." He whispered to no one before walking into his room and locking the door. "Believe me I'm trying..."


	6. Part Five

Part 5

Lewis awoke to a shaking. Looking up he saw Simon.   
"Mate?" Simon asked. The raven haired mam sat up, pushing himself against the wall. He had been laying, curled up in the corner of his room on the floor.   
"How did I get in the corner...?" He mumbled, looking around.   
"No clue. Come on, let's get you up..." Simon answered, helping his friend up and taking him to the kitchen. He poured him a drink of water and handed it to him. Lewis leant his back against the counter, his hands on it, staring at the floor. "You feeling any better?" Simon folded his arms.   
"Mm..." Lewis answered, rubbing his eyes.  
"You're overworked mate."   
"I'm always overworked."   
Simon stood for a moment in silence. "...lewis?" He asked. The raven haired man looked to him. "On... Minecraft the other day. You put in the chat... Some weird stuff?"   
Lewis walked towards the door. "I have to get back to work..." He stated.   
"Lewis! Tell me what's going on!" Simon snapped. Duncan and Paul stopped outside in the corridor hearing the shout.   
Lewis stopped at this point, staring at the floor. The two men outside looked to each other before looking to the two who stood in the kitchen.   
"You're depressed, angry! Even more than usual. You're getting yourself drunk as fuck every night and you could barely walk yesterday!" Simon shouted. Lewis continued walking, barging past the other two. Simon followed. "You lock yourself in your room, type random shit into chat on minecraft! And your entire right side is bruised!" He continued. "Tell us what's going on! We can help!"   
The raven haired man turned to them. They all were staring at him at this point. Unrelenting.   
"Yeah, Lewis... Something's wrong, we can help if you need it... And... You do need it." Duncan added.   
"Leave me alone." Lewis almost growled. He turned to his door and walked in, locking it behind him. He paced across the room for a moment before raising his fist and punching his wall. He slumped against his shelves and slid down. "I wish someone would help me..." He whispered to himself, tears rolling down his cheeks.   
\------------

Xephos - /unlockfile827 

-Rythian joined the game-

Com's - access granted

Rythian - lewis? What you doing? 

Xephos - nothing. 

Rythian - who's com? 

Xephos - no one. 

Coms - play audio log with subtitles? y/n

-Lividcoffee joined the game- 

Xephos - /cancel 

Lividcoffee - hey guys, what's going on? 

Rythian - lewis is acting wrd again :/

Xephos - no I'm not.

Lividcoffee - just ignore him. He won't tell us what's going on. 

-sips_ joined the game-

Sips_ - hey guys! What we all tlking about? 

Lividcoffee - lewis being mardy

Xephos - I don't have time for this guys. 

Sips_ - stop being such a big dumb dumb!   
-Xephos left the game- 

Lividcoffee - ...he doesn't usually just cut off the conversation like that... 

Sips_ - yh he usually argues! 

Rythian - is everything OK over there guys? 

Lividcoffee - ...at this point were not sure.   
\------------  
Lewis sighed and leant back in his chair, putting his hands over her face and breathing deeply for a moment. "How am I supposed to play that file now...?" He sighed and clicked around, looking at the files he had already unlocked and renamed. "Wait a minute..."   
He clicked on the second dialogue he had unlocked, played it and then waited to see if the message popped up. It didn't. "Damn it..." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. His stomach grumbled and he sighed once again.   
Going back onto minecraft he opened back up the server. 

-Xephos joined the game- 

Xephos - dark. 

Lividcoffee - lewis? 

{Dark (whispers) - yes Lewy~?}

Xephos - I would appreciate if you left me alone for a little while duncan. 

Lividcoffee - but I'm doing some behind the scenes work... 

Xephos - Duncan... Please. 

Lividcoffee - ...fine, I'll be back on in about ten minutes though so... 

Xephos - that's fine. Thank you. 

-lividcoffee left the game- 

Xephos - now that he's gone... 

Dark - what's wrong precious? 

Xephos - don't call me that... Is minecraft the only way to open the files? I've tried different games. It doesn't work. 

Dark - yes, there are different ways to open different types of files. So far you have one written one, two dialogues. Well done~

Xephos - and you'll promise to leave once I've unlocked and listened to all files? 

Dark - by that point my job will already be done... You'll be weak. On your knees begging for all of this to never have happened. 

Xephos - and just why. Why do you have this thing against me. What did I do to you? 

Dark - you'll find out soon enough~ have fun Lewis~

"Dick..." Lewis mumbled to himself, before typing into chat to listen to the file before Duncan came back online. 

Xephos - /playpreviousfile 

Com's - play file with subtitles? y/n

Xephos - /override,subtitleson

Com's - subtitles set to on, play file? y/n

Xephos - y

"So... Been a week, and I'm still here. I've been working on my floor, part of our job is cleaning so, mopping floors... Dusting corners. The boring stuff. I also had to go around each cell and write down the name and serial number, so that I knew which prisoner was in each cell, and draw it onto a map."

"Map..." Lewis mumbled to himself, perhaps there was a map somewhere in the files? That would give names, some explanation... 

"So I finally found out the guys name. All he does is sit there, calmly looking forward while the rest of the prisoners are arguing and yelling. But he just sits there. Calmly. I saw him with a couple of chess pieces the other day, no idea how he got those... *chuckles* I have his serial number now, b1u3. Makes sense, his eyes are a bright blue. Dazzling really. The doctor told me that at one point he had worn contacts to hide the glow. But upon being brought to this place, they had to remove all material he was wearing. Just like with the other prisoners... I feel bad calling him that, he doesn't seem like the others. So I guess I don't really see him as a prisoner, because he doesn't seem dangerous." 

Lewis furrowed his brows, but shook his head and continued listening. 

"Tomorrow I will be back down in that level, the past few days we've been on the outside grounds. Now we get to go back to our levels... Which means I will be able to attempt... Contact. Either way, I will record my progress tomorrow." 

Com's - end of entry, play next tape? y/n

Xephos - n 

Com's - open attached file? y/n

Xephos - y

"Attached file...?" Lewis mumbled, biting his lip. "The map?" 

The file opened, it was a picture file. Well, most of a picture. One cell, at the end of the corridor was ripped off. The one that faced the other cells. The serial code written on the front just before the ripped off bit was 'B1u3'. He raised an eyebrow. "Blue...?" Shaking his head he looked at the others.   
'Cody - F7923'  
'Magnum - G5h05t'  
'Sly - f0xh'   
'Cap - 5p4rk'  
He sighed and rubbed his eyes, turning in his chair so that he was facing the other way. When he looked up he wasn't in his office. He was in a corridor. No sound, but he could see the people shouting. He looked around, he seemed to move slowly. The corridor seemed to stretch, long and far. And on the far side, another. A glass container at the end, just like the others, but this one was on the end bit. And the person inside wasn't shouting, or yelling, or banging on the glass.   
Lewis stood, looking at the man. Though he couldn't make it out properly, he couldn't see his face. He was sat in a chair, his arms resting on his legs and his head hung forward, not showing his face, black/brunette hair covering it.   
Lewis looked around, he still seemed to move slowly, but the prisoners were still moving quickly. Still no sound. He looked back to the man at the end, and found himself unable to move towards him.   
After a moment of this going on, suddenly the man raised his head slightly. A blue shine almost blinding him. Lewis turned, feeling scared. He looked around frantically, he was back in his room. He turned back to where the man had been, to see his wall. No cells, no prisoners, nothing.   
He slowly sat back down, bringing his hands to his head and resting against the desk. He allowed himself to breathe, taking in a jolted breathe. Scared.   
\------------

-lividcoffee joined the game- 

Honeydew - hey bud. What's up? 

Lividcoffee - sorry am I disturbing a recording session? 

Sjin - we were just doing some behind the scenes to help the people upstairs with some of the stuff. 

Lividcoffee - doesn't lewis usually do that? 

Honeydew - nobody wanted to ask him at the moment... 

There was a moment where no one typed.

Honeydew - anyway what's up Dunc? 

Lividcoffee - ...its lewis. 

Sips_ - again? What's his problem? 

Lividcoffee - he... I was sat in the common room and he walked in, looked like he'd been crying. Pretty bad... 

Sjin - did he talk to you? 

Lividcoffee - no... He just walked in and grabbed some stuff before walking out... Turps was walking through the corridor outside and tried to speak to him...

Honeydew - what did he do? 

Sjin - he didn't snap at him did he? 

Lividcoffee - no... He just... Put his hand up to stop him from talking and walked away to his room, and he locked the door behind him... 

Sips_ - seriously what's up with him? 

Honeydew - we don't know... He's skipping some recording sessions, he's rescheduling others... He's staying overnight most nights... 

Sips_ - you guys think he's depressed? 

Lividcoffee - ...seems like it... 

Sjin - well what do we do? He won't let us help him...

Honeydew - we handle it better than I did earlier. 

Lividcoffee - we've tried being nice, we've tried being snappy... He just doesn't want our help guys. 

Sips_ - if he's going through a rough time its our job as mates to be thre for hm.

Honeydew - agreed. I'll try and talk to him tonight, if that doesn't work then we don't want to barrage him with it. We'll leave it a couple of days again and then try again.   
Sjin - good plan

Lividcoffee - sounds good. We recording soon? 

Honeydew - yep more whale lords! 

-Xephos joined the game-

Sips_ - hey lewis

Xephos - hi

Honeydew - ready to record? 

Xephos - Yh

Lividcoffee - let's get onto mumble then! 

Everyone turned on mumble and greeted each other.   
"You doing OK Lewis?" Simon asked, careful with how he said it. He heard a sniffle.   
"Y-yeah. Come on let's record." The raven haired man responded. He sounded like he had been crying... Duncan must have been right. "Hello! And welcome back, to whale lords!" He greeted, and they got to recording.


	7. Part Six

Part 5 

It had been a week. And nobody had heard from him.   
He hadn't been at his place, he hadn't been into the office, he hadn't been online on anything. And they were beginning to get worried.   
"Still not heard anything?" Simon asked as he walked through the door to the common room. Paul and Duncan looked to him and stood, walking over.   
"No, no one has. I even asked some people who we haven't spoken to in years if they'd heard anything of him or seen him online." Duncan stated, looking at his phone. "Nothing. None of them have heard anything."  
"Guys I'm starting to get worried..." Paul said, looking shaken. "W...what if he got drunk and tried to get home and something happened? What if someone's done something to him!"   
Simon put his hands on the man's shoulders and shook him a little "Hey Paul, it's OK man. Don't worry, he'll turn up."   
"Did his parents say anything?" Duncan asked.   
"...no... They haven't seen him. I didn't tell them the whole story just asked if they've heard from him." Simon said, sighing. "I'm staring to think we're gonna need to contact the police again, they filed the missing persons report but we haven't heard anything."   
"Guys what if he's-" Paul started.   
"Don't say it..." Duncan said, his tone barely a whisper.   
"But what if he is! What are we gonna do!" Paul was beginning to panic.   
"Sjin! Calm down!" Simon almost shouted. "For God sake we can't think like this! Please... Just... Everyone calm down. We have to have faith that it's just Lewis being... Well how Lewis has been for the past three weeks." He rubbed his eyes. "Sudden fixation with minecraft... Staying up late... Drinking too much... It's not normal but... Taking off for a week... Fits his behaviour recently... We... Just need to trust that he's OK."   
There was a moment's silence. Nobody knew what to say now...  
\------------  
He looked up, he was behind glass. The corridor was dark. Nothing was beyond it that he could see, and that terrified him. He closed his eyes and backed into a corner, gripping on his raven hair through fear. Why was this happening to him? Why now. Why was dark doing this?   
He opened his eyes as he heard banging against glass and looked up to see white eyes crowded outside the glass, white handmarks smearing as they banged against it. He let out a coughed sob and clenched his eyes shut again, covering his face with his hands. After a few moments the banging stopped, and he felt air rushing against him, whipping his hair around. He slowly lowered his hands, looking around. He was on the whale, stood in the middle. He looked down at himself, he wasn't in his usual clothes. He was clad in a red non-sleeved jacket, grey shirt and black skinny jeans. He looked around, noticing a fluffy thing behind him. As he spun more he noticed it was attached. A tail. He grabbed it and flopped it round a bit before becoming scared when it moved. He looked around, he looked down into the water below, clinging to the side in case he fell, and spotted people below. What appeared to be Sips and Sjin's minecraft skins. He felt vertigo set in, and went to move back when something pushed him. He plummeted towards the water, falling through clouds and clouds, landing and feeling the impact of a thousand shotgun shells unloaded into his side. He opened his eyes to find himself deep under the water, wrapped among the seaweed. He felt the pressure beginning to crush his lungs as he attempted to make it to the surface, but once he felt the air leave him his body crippled with sudden bursts of pain and he found himself still too far from the surface. Just when he thought he could make it he felt something tighten around his leg. Seaweed was whipping up, curling around him, hugging into his skin and ripping it. Winding around and up his body, circling his neck and wrists, restricting him from climbing further towards the light. His refused to look down, and kept attempted to force his arms upward, hoping he could pull himself up.   
But it was no use, he felt his body begin to weaken, his lungs fill with the cooling water. And he began to sink, further and further as the darkness overwhelmed him.   
\------------  
"Ok... Thank you for your time... Bye..." Simon hung up the phone.   
"Have they found him?" Paul asked, a little too hopefully. It was obvious they hadn't.   
"Not even a clue as to where he could be... Nothing." He answered.   
"It's been a week Simon... I know you said not to worry but..." Duncan said, he was sitting at the desk, staring down at the floor. "Well it's pretty hard not to..."   
"Why this fascination with the minecraft stuff? And the files he was trying to open? And this person? Coms? How does it all tie together?" Simon asked no one in particular.   
"He seemed like he was being threatened to me..." Turps voice came from the door.   
"What...?" Paul asked, fear present in his voice.   
"When I asked him about it, he seemed scared, like he wanted to talk to someone about it but... Someone was stopping him." Mark walked into the room, sitting down. "Is there any way to get to security footage from the office?"   
"Not a bad idea..." Simon said. "Dunc?"   
"Shouldn't be too difficult..." The blonde stood and walked to the office downstairs where the security staff would be.   
\------------  
He awoke to find himself laying in his bed, looking around the room was a tip. He didn't like it, he was generally a clean person. He never left clothes strewn about like this, the picture frames on the walls were wonky, the floor littered with wrappers and dirty clothes. Gin bottles lined the dressers and the window and mirror were covered in black, tarry handprints. He let his feet slide from the bed and looked down, quickly having to jump up when he realised the floor had turned to lava. He stood on his bed as it slowly sank, and moved away as the lava crept towards him, surrounding him and trapping him. It crawled over his feet, burning him, not letting him escape as it entrapped his entire body one part at a time until he was left staring upwards at the dark ceiling, black figures surrounding him, their bright white eyes glowing furiously down to him, mocking, jeering. Until all he saw was red.   
He opened his eyes, the pain had subsided, and he was in his office, he stood and walked out, into the common room where everyone was. But something was wrong, they all wore their minecraft skins, and turned to face him in unison. He took a step back as they stood, again in perfect timing with each other. Suddenly, Simon stepped forward coming a little too close.   
"We never liked you anyway." His best friend spoke, in little more than a harsh whisper. Before barging past and walking from the room into the pitch black hallway.   
"It's better this way." Duncan added, following Simon.   
"We don't have to see you now." Paul spat, following. Each of them barging past him, almost knocking him from his feet.   
"I never loved you. I couldn't wait until we broke up." Hannah said, her face expressionless. He felt their words pierce his heart as more and more of the people he had considered friends simply barged past him, throwing daggers through his heart. All his insecurities piercing him, leaving him bleeding in front of them.   
"You're pathetic." Tom stated.   
"You think you're so funny but you're the one that's a joke." Chris said, following.   
It continues until everyone had gone and he fount himself crying, holding his head. He turned to them all, just black shadows in the corridor, white eyes glowing.   
And they suddenly shot forward, right up into his face, their own rotting, decaying. Covered in cuts and scars.   
"LOOK WHAT YOU LET HIM DO TO US."   
\------------  
"No luck..." Simon said as they walked from the office. "Like literally no tapes. All erased..."   
"I can't believe it... What do we do now?" Duncan asked.   
"What can we do?! Guys I really don't like this!" Paul panicked.   
"Sjin, calm. Seriously, panicking will only cloud our judgement at this point..." Mark said.   
"We wait for the police to do their job. That's all we can do. Lewis is my best friend... If we start to panicking we're no use to him..." Simon said plainly.   
\------------  
He found himself outside of the door to Yogtowers, he could hear voices inside.   
"I just couldn't bare it if anything happened to him..." He heard Duncan's muffled voice come from inside.   
"What would we do without him? It's been hard enough like this already! Now he's missing..." Paul added.   
"I honestly don't know what we'll do..." Mark said.   
He looked down at the handle, slowly twisting it, preparing for the next horrible vision to occur. But when he stepped inside, wide eyed and looking at his friends, he saw them look at him, relief plastered over their faces, worry, shock... Scared. They looked scared.   
"G...guys?" He asked, looking at them all. Paul was the first to step forward, hugging him.  
"Thank fuck..." Simon half whispered to himself, running his hands through his hair. "Jesus... Thank fuck." He came over and hugged the raven haired man.   
"Where the fuck have you been man?!" Duncan asked, joining the ginger man. Mark also joined in and they all hugged the raven haired man, who stood in the middle, a confused look plastered over his face.   
"I...I'm... Back?" He asked, looking at them in turn as they stepped back. "P...Paul are you... Crying?"   
They all looked to the beany clad man, who looked away. "Shut up..." He mumbled, wiping his eyes.   
"Where have you been Lewis...?" Simon asked.   
"I... Uh... It's not important... I... I don't really know... Um... I think I was at home..." Lewis said, not knowing how to lie in this situation. "How... How long was I gone for exactly...?"   
"You were definitely gone from your place mate. We checked. You've been missing for a week! No one's heard anything from you, we had to go to the police!" Duncan said.   
"I don't know... Maybe... Maybe I was drunk... Might have got a hotel... I don't quite remember..." He stared down at the floor, the terrible images flashing through his head. "You guys are... Happy to see me...?" 

'We never liked you anyway' 

'It's better this way' 

"Of course we are!" Mark said. "Lewis what happened...? You look out of it."   
"He's probably hung over!" Duncan tried to make light of the situation. Everyone laughed though none felt like it.   
"Recording?" Paul asked.   
Lewis nodded. "Yeah... Yeah just, got a little bit of work to do first and then I'll join you guys on mumble." He smiled and they all made their way upstairs.


	8. Part Seven

Part Seven

It had been long. Tiring. But as the raven haired man sat down in the moving truck, Mark next to him behind the steering wheel, he felt a little relieved. While he had spent the better half of a decade in the old office, he was looking forward to the future. He pulled his seatbelt across himself and looked out of the window. This was strange. Leaving everything behind, selling things on to the fans, and of course - he couldn't forget what had been happening to him over the past couple of weeks.  
"You look sad." Marks voice cut into his thoughts as the truck pulled away. The raven haired man looked out of the window back at the building they had all called their home for so many years.  
"I'm glad this is all over to be honest, this moving buildings thing has been very tiring." He let himself smile.   
"We'll settle in quick enough, it's a really nice building as well." The bearded man smiled.   
Lewis thought back to the other day, when everyone had been so relieved he had turned up again. He managed to escape having to explain everything, to be fair it did seem as though he was just as shocked and confused as everyone else. He was also confused over the past couple of days, it appeared as though Dark had decided to leave him - for the most part - alone so that he could help the others move the building. He had been trying to help out as much as he could, but with the immanent threat of Dark and his... 'henchmen', it had been somewhat difficult.   
"So, need help setting up when we get there?" Mark asked, attempting to keep conversation going.  
"Yeah, sounds good." Lewis smiled. "What happened to the whole Jalopy thing with Hat Films?"  
"Well, we did a few videos but after a while it occurred to us just how insane it was to move the ENTIRE office to a different building in the back of a terrible run-down car. We will still be trying to do videos with it though." Mark nodded. "Hey, it's a half hour drive, wanna grab some food on the way?"  
"Sure."  
\------------  
About half way through the journey they pulled in at a McDonalds. They discussed getting the drive-thru but Mark really needed to pee and apparently couldn't hold it in. So Lewis sat in the car and Mark went inside to use the bathroom and then order the food. Lewis hoped in that order. He sat there in the truck, chuckled to himself about feeling like a real truck driver, waiting in a McDonald's car park in a massive moving lorry, finally thankful of a break from the bullshit Dark had been putting him through. Just as he was relaxing in his seat, checking twitter, a message pinged.   
The pop-up came up of a text and he clicked on it. 

Dark - Enjoyed your vacation?

Re-reading it again he internally cursed himself for jinxing it.

Lewis - Well, I was. Didn't know I'd used up all of my holiday days?

Dark - Haven't you learnt by now that humour will get you nowhere? ;P

Lewis - Oh god... emoji's...

Dark - Clearly someone's forgotten how harsh I can be...

Lewis - Fine, what do you want Dark?

Dark - Just thought I'd let you know, I appreciate you not telling your friends. I was in a bad mood and it cheered me up to see you go through that and them worry about you at the same time.

Lewis stared at the message, swallowing a dry lump in his throat. 

Lewis - Is that all?

Dark - Well, that and it's good for your own sake that you didn't tell them. And for theirs. So keep up the good work!

Lewis - So chipper for an evil cunt.

Suddenly there were no move replies, the raven haired man locked his phone and unlocked it, incase it was being slow again. No response. Deciding to let it go, he placed the phone back into his pocket but still stared forward. It was never a good thing when Dark stopped talking, and as much as he wanted to forget about the conversation, he couldn't remove the hint of worry that lingered in his mind.   
He was so distracted that he didn't notice the truck slowly crawling backwards, until he heard a small shout. Looking up, he spotted Mark at the door, before the clutch fell completely and the truck rolled back, fast. The wing mirror hit Mark round the head and he fell to the floor, and as the raven man attempted to open the door, he fount he was locked in.   
The truck had picked up speed, fast. It was only a few seconds of him attempting to pull the hand break back and stop the car before the truck hit the trees behind him.   
\------------  
He woke. Smoke. It surrounded the truck. He couldn't see through the windows. He let his head roll forward, ringing in his ears and his vision blurry, almost lagging as he looked around. And as he watched the CD deck sparking and through the smoke, a small fire on the bonnet, his phone pinged one again.   
He painfully pulled it out of his pocket, a huge crack across the screen. His arm was bleeding and he saw some drops of blood fall from him head, and it hurt to so much as move. 

 

Dark - I told you not to make jokes.


	9. Part Eight

Part Eight

It was still a blur. The sirens were just switched off as Lewis sat on the back of the ambulance, looking at the truck. The sun was just going down and the horizon was crimson.   
He looked at the truck, luckily it hadn't blown up near anyone. And fortunately he had just managed to escape, though the blast did hit his back a bit, hence why the paramedics had been working on the burns. Mark had gotten away as Lewis had picked him up and told him to run, his friend had been just out of the blast zone. He sighed, how would they explain it? Faulty hand break? Probably easier to explain that a strange entity is after him who can somehow effect real world objects so much that he set a truck riding backwards into some trees where it caught fire.   
The more the raven haired man played that sentence back over and over in his head, the more he thought how insane he must be going.   
Mark walked over, sitting next to him. He also wore a blanket draped over his shoulders, and had been talking to the police who were there.   
"How you feeling?" Mark asked, noticing his boss staring at the singed truck.   
"Is it all gone?"   
"No, no, we got almost all of the stuff out. It was just lucky there was no alcohol in the back, we only lost a desk or two." the bearded man looked at his boss, who was still staring. "Hey, cheer up. I mean, yeah, you almost died, but think of it this way, it wasn't your fault, it was probably mine, and you saved me." He nudged the raven haired man in a friendly 'cheer up' kind of way.   
Lewis grimaced a small bit at the sudden touch as it shot his body with pain, but he then gave a faint smile. "Well... At least it wasn't our vehicle this time."  
"Oh. My poor car!" Mark laughed. "How you feeling?"  
"I'm... I'll be alright, yeah. Just, pain every time I move." He smirked.   
"Ah yes, just pain." They both laughed.   
"Come on, we can get an Uber from here." Mark said, helping his boss up and round to the front of McDonalds. "They said they can make sure everything's alright and then send us our belongings to the new building."   
"Ok."  
They walked round to the front and called the Uber, waiting and then heading to the new building. They got out, heading in to find everyone else there already, who all looked at them, gobsmacked.   
"Oh... my god, what happened to you?!" Simon asked.   
"Um, well, faulty hand break, mixed with Mark being away from the truck and a very large tree..." Lewis answered, walking over to the boxes. "Don't suppose there's any spare tops in any of these?"  
"The props box should be in here somewhere." Paul answered, helping him look after seeing the damage the fire and explosion had done to not only his bosses t-shirt, but his back as well. "Do you need to clean that or?"   
"No, it's fine, the paramedics got everything that needed sorting..."  
"Friggin paramedics?!" Simon came and sat on the desk, seeming worried but intrigued at the same time.   
"Let's just say we're probably going to be in the news..." Mark said, walking over as well. He pointed to his head, where a big plaster was on his scalp.   
"Is the sofa here yet...?" Lewis asked.   
"Nope." Simon said.   
"Ah... ok, I'm just gonna go curl up in the corner then..." He said, going to stumble over.   
"No you don't, come on, I'll take you home. Duncan, pass me your car keys." Simon said, catching the keys as they were thrown to him. He took his best friend outside and put him into the passenger seat before walking round and getting into the drivers seat and beginning the drive. His friend seemed tired, not surprising. He had become more like his old self in the past few days, less stressed than the weeks before that. He watched as the raven haired man fell asleep against the window, and chuckled a bit. "Always getting yourself into trouble aren't you?" He mumbled, not too loud so that he didn't wake his friend. He continued the drive, the new building was thankfully closer to his flat, which was good. He had mentioned something about having game nights when he's 'less busy', which showed Simon he was still distracted by whatever it was that was making him so distressed before.   
Then it hit him; what if the truck crashing had something to do with what had been going on?  
He shook his head, bit far fetched. Or was it? It made sense with what had been going on, he began to try and piece it together in his head. Before this he had been attempting to ignore what was going on, just worrying for his best friend. But now, he decided it was time to focus and attempt to put everything he knew together.   
There was the text in chat from Lewis, the codes, that 'COMS' person... Then Lewis being distracted, anxious and depressed, keeping to himself. There was Lewis being drunk a few nights in a row, then him vanishing all together, for an entire week, then showing up like he didn't understand it himself. There was also the strange feelings everyone around the office had been getting; like they were being watched or something. Then there was the truck crashing, and Lewis being trapped inside and only just escaping at the last second...   
It all seemed a bit too convenient, was someone threatening him?   
He glanced back to his friend, who looked quite snuggly up against the car door. He smirked, but sighed, frowning afterward. He had the feeling he shouldn't dig deeper, but he couldn't help it. Lewis needed his help! But... if the raven haired man was attempting to keep it quiet then perhaps he didn't want the help? Maybe they would hurt him if he asked for help?   
All this began to make his head hurt, too much was still hidden for him to make any one conclusion. He looked back up to the road again, and swerved. Something big and black had come at the window. At this point the sky was black, and it was difficult to make out exactly what he had hit, especially on a side road... He managed to stop the car before it went into a ditch or something, and he took a moment to breathe.

Exiting the car, he looked back to Lewis, who was still asleep. He must have been extremely tired...  
He left his door open, he didn't want to be involved in a crash if another car came along, he would check what he hit and then head back. It was laying there a fair bit back, he pulled his phone out, the light from the car lights not quite lighting the object that sat limp in the centre of the road. He turned on his phones torch and slowly made his way towards it, having a bad feeling.   
It seemed bigger than a cat... And it didn't look like a dog. Well, it was definitely smaller than a horse. Simon shook his head slightly at his own strange brain and continued towards it. He saw it move a small amount, and remembered that Duncan kept a first aid kit in the boot. He then thought to how much Duncan would kill him if there was damage to the car... Putting that to the back of his mind, he headed back over to the boot of the car, pulling it open and lifting the lid.   
He pulled the first aid kit out and headed back toward the 'creature'. At least it didn't look human...  
Thinking that, he paused. It didn't look human... It didn't look dog, it didn't look anything...   
He slowly took a few steps back, and threw the first aid kit into the boot, rushing to the door. He turned, looking back at the 'creature'. It had slowly raised itself off of the floor, inhumanly, like it didn't have bones in its legs and managed to just raise itself by sheer will alone. He jumped into the drivers seat, closing the door quickly as the creature began to take slow, agonising steps towards him. He looked into the mirror.  
It was gone.  
Looking over his shoulder to check, ignoring all of his instincts from watching horror films, he still couldn't see it.   
Not wanting to chance anything, he revved the engine, and drove as fast as he could. He looked to the passengers seat, where Lewis still slept. And that was when he noticed... The car wasn't moving. The engine was working, but the car was stuck. He pushed harder onto the gas pedal. But then, the car lights went out, and all that could be heard was his own heartbeat in his ears, and the breathing from himself and his friend.   
Suddenly, the radio blasted, he had to cover his ears form the loud music. And then, a screeching came through, high pitched, waking his friend up as well.   
And then, the loud voice of Dark. 

 

RUN.

Without hesitation Simon punched the pedal, driving as fast as he could without looking back or even taking a second to explain what had happened to Lewis.


End file.
